Swallowing a wriggling live fish, no matter how tiny, is quite a feat. But around half a million asthma sufferers in India are trying it over the next few days, convinced that a combination of live fish and special herbs will cure them.

The sudden eruption of religious violence last week in the southern city of Hyderabad, a major centre for the multi-billion dollar software industry, has dramatically underscored a question frequently asked in India today: Is the modernising campaign of reformist Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu coming unstuck?

The 'chief executing of Cyberabad' is attempting to garner a fresh wave of international interest in his home state of Andhra Pradesh with the launch of a US$400 million public-private project to build and develop a special economic zone (SEZ).

Hong Kong made history by winning their group at the Sudirman Cup for the first time yesterday in Seville. But the champagne remains on ice as the team bid to win an unprecedented promotion to Group Two.

INDIAN Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao left Malaysia for home yesterday after a four-day official visit to strengthen economic ties. Mr Rao, building on his sweeping market reforms, assured Malaysian businesses that India's economic policies aimed at harnessing foreign investment would not be reversed despite domestic criticism.